Timer
by neech
Summary: A date with Kagome Higurashi [especially when she honours him with her presence] is never what it seems. She never wanted it [aka the Hojou situation] to get so out of hand. It's him who wants to keep it this way. :Hints of InuKag:


Timer

By Neech

Category: Inuyasha

Rating: G – PG

Genre: General

Status: IY one-shot (completed)

Pairings: (Hints of) Inuyasha/Kagome

Characters: Kagome, Hojou

Disclaimer: Me no own Inuyasha. He belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, plus Kagome.

* * *

For Kimoo, my twin and companion since the day we were a bundle of cells the size of amoebas sitting in the uterus of my mother. May she always be as Ice Queenish and feisty as ever.

* * *

Click.

A discreet press of a button. The timer clicks, beginning a countdown that he can hardly wait to end. He smiles slightly, a welcoming smile, as she arrives, slightly frazzled and very much late.

Twenty-three minutes and eighteen seconds. A new record. She's never been this late before.

He bows, smiling his normal asinine grin, though inwardly, he laughs to himself, taking in her appearance as she approaches, completely flustered, her hair slightly messy and drenched with sweat.

A pity.

She made an effort today, he realizes, and barely manages to stifle a snort that would have been so uncharacteristic of him. _Someone_ must have made her upset today. This time, a real smile appears on his face, as he takes in her light blue dress that hugs her curves, complementing her slender, slightly muscular form. He smiles. He always knew she was beautiful. Azure blue had always brought out the stunning radiance of her crystalline cerulean eyes.

"Aa, gomen, gomen, Hojou-kun! I was… unavoidably detained." She apologizes, her head bobbing slightly as she struggles to catch her breath and bow at the same time.

Unavoidably detained. He sighs inwardly, though his grin still remains plastered on his face, having heard it more times than he could count with both his fingers and toes combined.

In Kagome code: Detained. By _him_.

"Iie, Higurashi. It's alright. I wasn't waiting long." He smiles that innocent naïve smile again, waiting for a minute before gesturing towards the small restaurant along the streets of Shinjuku.

"I hope you won't mind eating at the Ramen-ya across the road… It's a pretty good place to eat, and the food is really good… Unless you would prefer something else?" For someone supposedly as dense as a piece of steel in water, he catches her slight twitch, and the soft muttering of words under her breath.

Instantly, she's flustered again, her hands waving frantically in front of her face. "No, it's alright, r-really! It's nothing!"

In the end, she practically drags him there, her slight red flush so very obvious, as she dumps herself in her seat, though, for some _strange_ reason, her eyes dart to the windows, peering out to look for some imaginary figure hiding between the trees.

He pretends not to notice her paranoia. His mask is on, his nearly silly grin, so he plays the part, and plays it well. His expression, his body language, his very actions, though false and fake to his ears, ring honest and true in hers, and in some way, he detests that, to play someone he is not.

"Higurashi?" His tone is kind though not probing, as he notices the slightly frantic look in her eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"Hojou-kun, I-I-" She manages two words, just his name and a reference to herself, just as the waitress interrupts, her demeanour patronising, her smile perhaps a little too much so.

Practiced and false. Just like him.

"Konnichiwa! May I take your order?" Her wide smile rivals his, and he grins back, as friendly as ever.

"Ah. Miss, two Green Teas… One Tonkatsu Ramen, aah,. Higurashi, forgive me, what would you like?"

"Aah, I'm sorry… Um. Wakame Ramen?" She stumbles slightly, and he knows she is unnerved by the normality of his tone.

"Okay, so, two Green Teas, one Tonkatsu Ramen and one Wakame Ramen. Anything else? No? Alright. Enjoy your meal!" Distantly, he observes that the waitress is sharp, sharp enough to catch his slight, discreet nod.

His attention is on something, or someone, far more important.

She refuses to meet his eyes, her determined gaze somewhere between the table and the floor.

"Higurashi?"

He wants this game to end, yet he cannot say the words.

"What do you think matters the most in life?" Her abrupt question, tinged with wistfulness, causes him to draw in a startled breath, and he wonders whether it is rhetorical, or whether she truly needs an answer.

"S-sorry?" He cringes, noting the obvious uneasiness in his voice. Stupid. He is **required** to maintain the façade, whether he particularly liked it or not.

"What do you think matters the most in life?" The same question, the same tone. The desperation on her face for an answer is too obvious.

He wonders why she wants to know this.

He runs his fingers through his hair, in an effort to feel less nervous.

It doesn't work.

"Ah well… Higurashi, a lot of things matter, don't they? I mean, without-"

"Just one thing, please." She interrupts him, her eyes still on the table.

What matters most? He thinks for a while, running through thoughts in his head. Living, not just mere existing was crucial… Love was something most desired, perhaps that was what she thought most mattered… Happiness? Many wanted lives that were, irrefutably, theirs.

And then he knew.

"Higurashi, I would say it would have to be… A life not full with lies. Many people either deceive themselves, deluding themselves into believing different things, say having another option if they had taken a different road, or they live a life full of lies, lying to family, friends, just to hide something from them. A life like that would be full of anguish, full of pain and utter helplessness. You hide behind a mask, an impenetrable façade. No one should live that sort of life. Then, no one can help you but yourself. "

His mask is gone as he speaks these words, and he wonders whether she finally sees the person behind the façade.

Impossible.

She is quiet for a while, and he wonders why.

"Houjo-kun… I am so very sorry…" Her words are shaky, but the gaze in her eyes is resolute.

"Please believe me when I say that I did not mean to take it so far, but-"

_Thunk!_ A flash of red, and a branch hits the window right next to his head. In that moment, he finally remembers, thankfully, his persona, and he ducks, emitting a yelp as he cowers and covers his head.

Instantly, her gaze turns furious, as she notices the dart of vermillion making its getaway. "Inuyasha!" She mutters under her breath, and she turns to him, her apology forgotten.

"Gomen, Houjo-kun! I'm so sorry, I have to go. Thanksforlunch!"

And then she's gone.

"Eh?" The waitress arrives, wondering whether she is to serve a ghost seaweed and buckwheat noodles.

And for the first time in many, many years, his smile is his, as he remembers her gaze.

Full of anger, irritation, relief and love.

He checks his watch and laughs as he sees the time. Five minutes and fifty-three seconds. His fastest date yet.

His illusion blurs, just for a second, allowing others a glimpse of intelligent green eyes and tufts of brown hair. Then it is back in place, just as half a dozen customers rub their eyes, wondering what just happened to the nondescript, young man sitting in the booth.

"Your move, Inuyasha, your move. Hurry up, Kagome-Okaa can't wait forever."

And then he is gone.

* * *

A possible AU fic, in some way, I guess. If you didn't quite get it, Houjo is actually an adult Shippou in disguise. Including time travel and 500 years of waiting normally complicates things, but heck. That's the basic gist. 


End file.
